Review: Titania (Prime) [U27.3.16]

Titania is a fairy/pixie themed Warframe, originally released in Update: The Silver Grove, between U18 and U19. Titania Prime was only recently released, in U27.3.6. With her powerful Razorwing (4) mode and several decent supporting abilities, she is a powerful and reasonably versatile Warframe. She has quickly become one of my favourite Warframes because of how much I enjoy using Razorwing.

Acquisition

The blueprints for Titania are acquired initially through The Silver Grove quest, and can be re-acquired from Cephalon Simaris afterwards.

Titania Prime is acquired in the usual way, with her Blueprints coming from various Relics.

Stats

Titania's base stats are average across the board, with a solid Energy pool. Titania Prime has increased Armour and Health, the latter being a solid survivability boost, as well as a higher Energy pool, which is always helpful.

Titania uses the Dex Pixia as her main weapon when in Razorwing (4) mode. They are a Dual Secondary, and as such use Secondary mods. Its clear strength is in Status Chance and its very heavy Slash bias, fantastic for inflicting Slash procs with regularity. Its Crit is mediocre, but still worth building for as the Primed Secondary Crit mods are exceptionally powerful.

The Dex Pixia have a Mag Capacity of 60, and automatically recharge, with a recharge delay of 0.25 seconds, restoring 50 rounds per second.

Titania can uses the Diwata as a Melee when in Razorwing mode. It has solid Crit, though little else of note. Generally speaking, Diwata is not worth using as it cannot equip Blood Rush, which is the main mod that makes Crit Melees powerful. Additionally, it pales in comparison to a well-modded Dex Pixia.

Abilities

Passive

There are two components to Titania's Passive. Firstly, she has innate 25% increased distance on Bullet Jumps and Rolls. Secondly, upon casting an ability, she gives all allies within 15 metres including herself the Upsurge buff, which restores 4 Health per second for 20 seconds.

Titania's Passive is quite solid and offers a good amount of utility. The increased Bullet Jump/Roll distance is very helpful for covering distance quickly when not in Razorwing. Passive Health restoration is always appreciated, especially when it can be shared with allies.

1: Spellbind

Titania casts Spellbind in an area around where she is aiming, or if the button is held, around herself. It affects all allies and enemies within a 5 metre radius (+Ran), lasting for 16 seconds (+Dur). Allies are cleansed of all Status procs, and are immune to them for the remainder of the duration. Enemies drop their weapons and float helplessly into the air for the duration.


Spellbind is quite a solid (1) ability. Removal of and immunity to Status procs is always appreciated, especially for such an easy-to-use ability. Notably, it also provides immunity to staggers and knockdowns, including self-inflicted ones from explosive weapons or from ramming things in Razorwing (4). With enemies no longer drifting away randomly while Spellbind-ed, it is quite a decent small-range and cheap CC and support ability.

2: Tribute

Titania extracts a Tribute from the targeted enemy, dealing minimal damage to them (+Str), ragdolling them and leaving an "offering" in their place. The offering can be picked up by Titania or one of her Razorflies (see Razorwing [4]), otherwise lasting in place for 15 seconds. If the victim survives, they will deal 25% reduced damage for 12 seconds (+Dur).

Each buff lasts for 120 seconds when picked up, and has a radius of effect of 35 metres.

There are four different Tributes. Each one must be extracted individually from an enemy, all of them can be active at the same time. Tribute is cycled by pressing the 2 ability key, and casted by holding down the key.

The Thorns buff gives Titania 50% damage reduction, and will also reflect 50% of damage taken back to the attacker. Any allies within range also receive this buff.
Dust reduces the accuracy of all enemies in range by 50%.
Full Moon increases the damage dealt by Companions and Razorflies by 75%, and buffs their Health and Armour by 50%. Any allies within range will have their Companions and Razorflies buffed as well.
Entangle slows down all enemies within range by 25%.


Oddly, very little of Tribute is actually affected by mods. Its buff duration and area of effect are both static (and quite generous I might add), as is each one of its different Tribute buffs. The biggest effect that mods have on it is altering its maximum cast range.
Thorns is probably the most overall useful. 50% damage reduction is always nice to have.
Dust is a decent addition alongside Razorwing and Thorns, the 50% accuracy debuff combining nicely with Razorwing's innate 50 % evasion. I'm not a fan of reduced accuracy, as there is always still the chance of getting hit, which at high levels could mean instant death if your shield gate is down.
Full Moon is unfortunately much less useful than it first might appear. Its Health and Armour bonuses are calculated from base values, rather than modded values, so add very little to Companions. I don't consider the damage bonus to be significant, as players can still deal far, far more damage than any Companion.
Entangle's slow is not that significant.

Some of Tribute's buffs, mainly Thorns and Dust, are worth keeping active, though none are critical to Titania's capabilities.

3: Lantern

Titania turns an enemy into a Lantern. This disables them, making them invulnerable, and causes them to draw in and pacify other enemies up to 20 metres (+Ran) away. This effect lasts for 25 seconds (+Dur). Any damage dealt to the Lantern enemy will be stored, and dealt in full once the ability expires or is deactivated. You can have up to 4 Lanterns active at once.

Lanterns will deal a little Heat damage (+Str) every second to any enemy who comes within 2.5 metres (+Ran). Upon expiring or being deactivated, they will explode, dealing more Heat damage (+Str) to all enemies within 8 metres (+Ran).


Lantern is a solid CC ability. It can be used in choke points to bunch together enemies for easy pickings, draw enemies away from an objective, or even disable a particular high threat. Its biggest weakness is that it needs to be cast directly on an enemy to work, where many other good CC abilities do not.

4: Razorwing

Titania shrinks herself and takes flight in a mini-Archwing mode, using the Dex Pixia and Diwata Exalted Weapons. The damage dealt by these weapons is increased by Strength. In this form, she inherits full Archwing controls, including a short-range Blink. She can still cast all of her other abilities, and gains 50% evasion to all incoming attacks, as well as an innate 10 metre Vacuum. Razorwing consumes 5 Energy per second, affected by both Efficiency and Duration.

Any companion will disappear, however (Primed) Animal Instinct will still work. While in Razorwing mode, Titania can still use most Gear items, and can also enter Operator mode. However, she cannot interact with consoles, revive allies, perform Mercy kills, or pick up objects like Mobile Defence Datamasses.

Upon entering Razorwing mode, Titania spawns 6 Razorflies. An additional Razorfly is spawned for each different Tribute buff active. In turn, they will also pick up any Tribute offerings. Razorflies are small attack drones that have 240 Health, 100 Shields and 3350 Armour, dealing 80 Slash damage (+Str) per hit. Their damage output is also affected by Diwata mods, though I am not sure what does and doesn't work. Razorflies have increased Threat, so are more likely to be attacked by enemies. Razorflies can be destroyed, and will only be restored by recasting Razorwing. Any kills Titania achieves will heal remaining Razorflies.


Razorwing is a unique and very powerful ability, giving Titania mobility that no other Frame can match. With free movement laterally as well as vertical, she can easily move well above enemies, attaining a superior vantage point as well as avoiding many attacks. Razorflies are also a surprisingly potent addition. Their increased Threat is very effective at drawing enemy fire away from players as well as objectives, and they are surprisingly adept at surviving.

Dex Pixia and Diwata are weapons exclusive to Razorwing. Dex Pixia is a very powerful Dual Secondary with a quick recharging magazine. With semi-infinite ammo, it cements itself on the upper end of ranged weapons for damage output, especially with the boost from Power Strength and Razorwing Blitz.

Diwata is an Archmelee-type weapon. It has solid Crit, but as an Exalted weapon, does not have access to Blood Rush. More importantly, unlike Dex Pixia, Diwata offers nothing that regular Melee weapons cannot match or exceed. Additionally, it can only hit one enemy at a time, making it rather inefficient.

Augments

1: Spellbound Harvest

Upon casting Spellbind, if 4 or more enemies were affected, Titania restores 50 (+Str) Energy.

Energy restoration, especially when in Razorwing (4) form, is rare and greatly appreciated by Titania. She can eat a lot of Energy very quickly, especially if trying to maintain Razorwing Blitz (4a, see below). The biggest weakness of this Augment is its heavy reliance on enemy density, as Tribute's base Range is quite small at only 5 metres.

3: Beguiling Lantern

Enemies drawn towards the Lantern take 100% (+Str) more damage from melee attacks.

There are a few reasons why I would consider this Augment ignorable. The main reason to use Titania is for her Razorwing mode, in which case Dex Pixia is a far superior weapon to Diwata for more reasons than just damage output. Additionally, any good melee weapon already has no trouble blitzing through most enemies in the game currently anyway, so the extra damage is hardly needed.

4a: Razorwing Blitz

Casting another ability while in Razorwing will increase flight speed and attack speed of both Dex Pixia and Diwata by 25% (+Str) for 8 seconds (+Dur). This can stack up to 4 times, for a maximum of +100% (+Str) speed for 32 seconds (+Dur).

Razorwing Blitz is incredibly powerful and ridiculous fun. With decent Power Strength, it makes Dex Pixia deal incredibly high damage-per-second, and easily puts Titania among the fastest Warframes. This makes her fantastic for traversing the Open Worlds, as she can easily outrun Archwings. Of course, in tight indoor spaces, it can simply result in bashing yourself into every single wall and door. Nonetheless, the extra mobility and firepower it offers drastically enhances Titania's main feature, and in my opinion is among the best Augments in the game, if rather Energy hungry.

The easiest way to fuel Razorwing Blitz is to cast Spellbind (1) four times, as it can be cast in the absence of enemies. Tribute (2) has the same Energy cost, but requires an enemy.

4b: Ironclad Flight

Disables Razorwing's innate Vacuum, and gives 40% damage reduction in the air, like Aviator.

The sole purpose of this mod is to prevent Energy orbs from being consumed when they are not needed. It is otherwise a massive inconvenience.

Builds

Titania

Titania's signature ability is Razorwing (4), and is the main feature that makes her unique. Her other abilities, though they are solid, offer little that other Warframes do not also offer.

Besides however much Strength you're comfortable with, Razorwing also appreciates a combination of Efficiency and Duration. Efficiency minimises the Energy cost of fueling Razorwing Blitz (4a), while Duration extends its active time, minimising frequency of recasting. Both contribute to minimising the drain-over-time of Razorwing itself. Range is beneficial for the other three abilities, particularly Lantern (3), but is not a priority for Razorwing.

Looking at Augments, I personally consider Razorwing Blitz mandatory for any Razorwing build. It massively enhances Razorwing, provided you have the Energy to fuel it. Spellbound Harvest (1) can be decent if you maintain good Range and have the spare slot for it. Ironclad Flight (4b) is purely personal preference, and if you're someone for whom it is actually useful, you probably don't need to be reading my blog anyway. I wouldn't bother with Beguiling Lantern (3).


For survivability, I always like having Vitality on every Frame without major damage reduction (with the obvious except of Hildryn, who gets Redirection instead). It's somewhat less important for Titania, as in Razorwing form she is rarely getting shot at, and even more rarely actually getting hit. Razorflies do a good job at draw fire, and Razorwing's 50% evasion coupled with its high speed make Titania extremely difficult to actually get hit. It is worth also noting the mod Aviator. It offers 40% damage reduction while airborne, which applies when Titania is in Razorwing mode.

In terms of Arcanes, Energize is the main one to look at. Energy Orbs are one of the few ways of restoring Energy while Razorwing is active, and Energize significantly increases how much Energy they restore. Precision is a major damage boost to Dex Pixia, and is trivial to trigger. Velocity is also very easy to trigger, but is largely redundant alongside Razorwing Blitz. Pistoleer is also a strong option to look at, eliminating ammo consumption after achieving a headshot kill.

 

If you have it, Preparation is fantastic on Titania. It allows you to immediately jump into Razorwing and use it much more early on in missions. For shorter missions, with appropriate Efficiency + Duration, you can play the entire mission in Razorwing even without having Arcane Energize.

Titania has one innate V and D polarities, with V in the Aura slot. Titania Prime has one additional V and - polarities. The following are some example builds you could try out to see if Titania works for you.

With the V polarised Aura slot, the best matching Aura would be Growing Power. Pistol Amp is a miniscule bonus to Dex Pixia, and Diwata is not worth boosting with Steel Charge, though its extra capacity could be helpful. Of the other polarity mods, Corrosive Projection is always worth considering against armoured enemies. Aerodynamic, which is only available from Arbitrations, gives 24% airborne damage reduction, which adds with Aviator.

Basic, General Purpose

This is a very basic Titania build, using only (relatively) easy-to-acquire mods (besides Razorwing Blitz). With positives in every stat, all abilities are boosted and effective, with no one specialisation.

Balanced, General Purpose

This build is much the same as the first, except using some Primed and Corrupted mods. Notably, its Strength is higher, for a more potent Razorwing, as well as a larger Energy pool.

High Efficiency - Razorwing

This build sacrifices some Duration for even higher Efficiency. This enhances Razorwing and especially cheapens Razorwing Blitz, without harming the other abilities too much.

High Strength and Efficiency - Razorwing Only

Meanwhile this build goes all-in on Razorwing and Razorwing Blitz, dumping Range for high Power Strength and exceptional Razorwing efficiency. Lantern is almost useless, Tribute must be cast at point-blank range, and Spellbind is pretty much only a self-cast. In exchange, Razorwing becomes extremely fast and powerful, and Razorwing Blitz is very cheap to fuel with self-casted Spellbinds.

Dex Pixia 0-Forma:

With two innate V polarities and one -, there are two main options to build the Dex Pixia initially. The top build includes both Primed Crit mods at the expense of Lethal Torrent. This build is excellent for damage-per-shot, especially on headshots. The bottom build focuses more on Status output, with Seeker because I love Punch Through.

Dex Pixia 1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows the Crit build to fit Lethal Torrent in alongside everything else, with a small amount of extra space.

Dex Pixia 2-Forma:

Another V polarity and a full eight mod build is very possible. Besides changing the first two elements around to suit the target enemy, the last slot is the only one with any real options. Seeker for Punch Through allows you to tear through groups with ease, while something like Primed Heated Charge pumps your direct damage through the roof. Augur Pact adds a nice extra bit of damage at a low cost. Magnum Force is more powerful, but I personally find its accuracy penalty to be too harsh on the Dex Pixia. Both are poor choices if also using Arcane Precision.

As usual, my go-to elemental combo would be Viral, which pairs perfectly with Dex Pixia's majority Slash. Some added Heat is certainly appreciated, especially with the massive boost from Primed Heated Charge. Corrosive with some optional Heat is extremely good against the Infested, particularly Status-immune bosses like Lephantis. A Radiation setup is extremely strong against Alloy-armoured enemies, particularly most Corpus bosses. You could consider a pure Toxin build against unarmoured Corpus, though I generally find Dex Pixia to do more than enough damage to eat through their shields quickly.

Diwata 0-Forma:

Pretty much all I know about Diwata is that it should be built for Crit. I essentially never use it. Viral is my go-to elemental combo as usual.

The mods on Diwata also affect Razorflies. They deal pure Slash damage at base, and supposedly can Crit, however currently do not seem to inflict Status procs. I am confident that Base Damage and Elemental mods affect Razorflies, and I believe Crit mods also help.

My Builds

Titania

My primary build is an Umbral version of the High Strength and Efficiency build, as Razorwing is by far my favourite part of Titania's kit. Growing Power is a fun little boost to Razorwing (Blitz). I am looking at replacing it with Corrosive Projection when I get around to an Aura Forma.

Arcane Energize is an enormous help for Razorwing, as one of the few Energy restoration methods that still works through its Energy drain. Arcane Precision is trivial to proc, and provides an enormous damage boost for Dex Pixia.

This more generalist build eats up a lot more Energy, but its other abilities, especially Lantern, are much more useful.

This build is purely for achieving maximum speed. It guzzles Energy pretty quickly and takes a lot of setup to work, but is among the fastest things in the game reaching around 500m/s. Arcane Phantasm is easy enough to trigger before entering Razorwing, or even with the Diwata, and does (seem to) speed up Razorwing.
There is of course some room for improvement, but it is practically impossible to fit in more +Strength/Sprint Speed mods without ruining the already tenuous Energy economy.

Dex Pixia

There are a bunch of builds here, but they're very easy to explain. From top to bottom:

• Maximum Status Viral + Punch Through - general use build, tears through most enemies with ease. Punch Through is an immense help when going up against large groups.
• Viral + Heat - mainly for use against Grineer bosses. Even without any Status mods, procs more than enough Viral and Heat to weaken them massively.
• Corrosive + Heat - mainly for use against Infested bosses, particularly Lephantis/Hemocyte who are immune to Status procs. Also excellent against Ferrite-armoured bosses.
• Radiation - for use against Alloy-armoured bosses, particularly Corpus.
• Sentients - a Corrosive + Heat build slightly tweaked so the Heat component is largest. This results in the Sentients adapting to Heat first, allowing Corrosive to deal its massively boosted damage for longer before it is adapted to.

Diwata

The Diwata has bunch of +Crit Chance/Damage mods, with the Gladiator mods in the hope that they affect the Diwata. I basically never use Diwata as firing Dex Pixia is just vastly superior. I do know that Razorflies can benefit from certain mods on Diwata, though I don't know exactly which ones, and I don't rely on them for damage anyway.

Roles

Titania's primary role is as a DPS. Her Razorwing (4) mode can be modded to deal great line-of-sight damage, not as powerful as Mesa of course but far more mobile. Spellbind (1) and Lantern (3) both offer solid CC as well, which can be helpful if you are not able to immediately kill the problem. Spellbind and Tribute (2) offer a variety of buffs, though in my opinion not enough to be considered a proper Support Frame.

Combat Use and Summary

Razorwing is Titania's signature ability, and it is an amazing one. It offers mobility beyond pretty much any other Frame, as well as top notch firepower and a surprising amount of survivability. Razorflies are very good at drawing enemy fire, and can survive for a surprising amount of time even at higher levels. Razorwing Blitz lifts it to new heights of speed and firepower, though consumes a lot more Energy to maintain.

Spellbind and Tribute are not bad, with Spellbind cleansing Status effects from allies and the Thorns Tribute in particular offering 50% damage reduction. Lantern is quite a solid CC ability, especially for a Frame that already has potent damage-dealing and mobility.

The biggest barrier to Titania is Energy consumption. Maintaining Razorwing Blitz while staying in Razorwing can consume quite a lot of Energy, which is at a very steep premium for newer players. As a channelled ability, it also disables many Energy restoration methods. I personally would struggle to keep it up for extended periods without Arcane Energize, even with the hyper-efficient builds.. Without Razorwing Blitz, Razorwing is much cheaper to maintain, but also a lot less exceptional and in my opinion far less fun.

There is of course also the matter of the Archwing style controls. I personally find Archwing and thus Razorwing to feel quite good to move in, especially now that its momentum has been removed. If you still do not like the controls, then you will probably not like Razorwing.


Titania is an unconventional Warframe, being essentially a mini Archwing in regular missions. Her other abilities are a mixed bag, largely outclassed by other Warframes but certainly not worthless. If you enjoy flight-style movement and freedom, Titania is the only Frame who really offers that, and she does it really well. If you're looking for a more standard Warframe who uses abilities to enhance ground gameplay rather than replace it, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

Titania has quickly become one of my favourite Warframes, primarily because I love using Razorwing. It is just so much fun zooming around at insane speeds as a tiny pixie/fairy, dealing ridiculous amounts of damage.

Weapon Combinations

There are no notable weapon combinations for Titania, especially given that she likes to spend her time in Razorwing (4) mode.